No suspects in holiday light vandalism

About $500 worth of damage was done to the lights and materials

KINGSTON — Volunteers dedicate months to create the holiday light displays at Mike Wallace Park, but it didn’t take long to do hundreds of dollars worth of damage to them.

“I just can’t believe how destructive people can be in the name of fun,” Chicquita Smith wrote on the Port of Kingston’s Facebook page. “We work from March to December to make the port lights. Not an easy job. If we can find out who these people are, they should help us every week to repair the lights!”

About $500 worth of damage was done to the lights and materials, according to a Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office report. The lights are owned by the port. On top of that damage, Steve Hyman, the port’s interim director at the time, estimated a total of $2,000 of damage if labor is included — by volunteers if they were paid, and employee time to fix the damage.

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Three suspects were observed on surveillance footage damaging the displays Dec. 13. The suspects appeared in the footage at 2:08 a.m., according to the report.

The suspects are thought to be males in their late teens, or early 20s. They were wearing dark clothing.

The suspects damaged a botanical light display; multiple light decorations were cut and pulled apart, according to the report. Bulbs were broken and strings were pulled down.

Putting frustration aside, however, the port had the display fixed the same day, Hyman said. It will remain on until early January.

 

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